Several students, faculty members and the provost represented UC Merced at the University of California’s recent Carbon Slam event, placing in the presentation competitions and increasing the campus’s visibility among peers and the public.

The drone research lab at the University of California, Merced, has catapulted the campus to the leading edge of the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) field, and now the campus has been chosen as the new hub for UC systemwide policies, procedures and training protocols.

School of Engineering doctoral candidate Brandon Stark will serve as director of the newly formed Center of Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Safety, which is being funded by the UC Office of the President. His full appointment begins in May.

Last fall, UC Merced’s first peer-led recovery program — known as Bobcats for Recovery — began meeting weekly to help support undergraduate and graduate students in recovery from substance use disorders.

As the recovery group’s first coordinator, student John Dovales Flores worked to educate others and change the support culture on campus.

“When you’re doing outreach, there’s a stigma around drug use and recovery,” he said. “We are trying to change the way that we talk about addiction — in the group and across campus.”